Heavy Rain was turned down by Microsoft because of child kidnapping themes

David Cage, the founder of Quantic Dream, has revealed that Microsoft turned down the opportunity to publish Heavy Rain because they were worried about the theme of child kidnapping, according to Polygon.

Cage revealed this during his BAFTA games lecture in London yesterday. Cage said that he had turned to Microsoft after releasing Fahrenheit as they were fans of the game. He said, “They really loved Fahrenheit, and they really wanted to do something with us.” Ultimately though it was threat of a “scandal” that made Microsoft turn down the deal.

Fortunately for Cage, and for Sony, the Japanese company were much more receptive to his ideas. Cage said that the studio were able to describe the game to Sony as something that “can be really emotional experience, but [its themes] shouldn’t be vulgar.” However Cage said that he was not criticising Microsoft for turning the game down, “Microsoft is a great company, I’m not complaining or criticizing.”